05-15-2018, 11:58 AM
My friend has an ARB 50 quart. He Got it used with the extra insulative cover, and it has been nearly 3 years since I had it, and his truck. I was disappointed in the 16AWG ciggy plug cable, but that is par for the course. I cut it shorter in the middle and added anderson powerpoles and it is used without the ciggy plug and about 2.5 feet of that 16AWG, but he can hook the andersons together returning ciggy plug, if he uses iti n a vehicle without anderson powerpoles.
I did a side by side test with it and my frontloader with the same compressor, trying to use it the same. My fridge used less juice, but it also ventilates the condenser better and has more insulation around it, but for the door.
My friends ARB is used primarily in a lifted truck that regularly sees heavy duty offroad usage. It also has been locked in the closed up truck mid summer in the California central valley where the compressor must have been running near non stop in the 120+F degree heat.
As with all portables, the Ciggy plug will become an issue at some point. While the ARB has some lights on the panel and a display, which should indicate whether the fridge is connected or not, it is better to not have a weak or intermittent power connection.
When i was modifying my cabinet for the new fridge, I ran my danfoss fridge on a distant powerpole and also used an extension cord, and I was hearing the fan turn on, and was like wow that compressor is quiet, but there was too much voltage drop on the wiring, and the compressor was failing to run once the sun went down and the battery was not 13.6v+.
The ARB comes with AC and DC power cords. The DC plug into the fridge with ciggy plug is the disappointing 16AWG. If it were my fridge I would bypass that whole plug and run new 10AWG right to compressor controller with Anderson powerpoles, eliminating the ciggy plug and the connector on the side of the fridge.
I did not remove the access panel on his ARB to see how much work this would be, but the compressor controller uses simple quick connect fittings:
![[Image: female-disconnect-yellow.jpg]](http://www.remybattery.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/e/female-disconnect-yellow.jpg)
The only reliability issue I would suspect with the ARB is this DC wiring, and it can be completely or partially mitigated, but simply knowing that the ciggy plugcan be and will likely be an issue at some point is also partial mitigation.
One thing that I've read about on some forums, is that since the ciggy plug is problematic, some choose to run this 12v/120v fridge off of their inverter, basically using 20% more battery power. Do not be one of these people
I did a side by side test with it and my frontloader with the same compressor, trying to use it the same. My fridge used less juice, but it also ventilates the condenser better and has more insulation around it, but for the door.
My friends ARB is used primarily in a lifted truck that regularly sees heavy duty offroad usage. It also has been locked in the closed up truck mid summer in the California central valley where the compressor must have been running near non stop in the 120+F degree heat.
As with all portables, the Ciggy plug will become an issue at some point. While the ARB has some lights on the panel and a display, which should indicate whether the fridge is connected or not, it is better to not have a weak or intermittent power connection.
When i was modifying my cabinet for the new fridge, I ran my danfoss fridge on a distant powerpole and also used an extension cord, and I was hearing the fan turn on, and was like wow that compressor is quiet, but there was too much voltage drop on the wiring, and the compressor was failing to run once the sun went down and the battery was not 13.6v+.
The ARB comes with AC and DC power cords. The DC plug into the fridge with ciggy plug is the disappointing 16AWG. If it were my fridge I would bypass that whole plug and run new 10AWG right to compressor controller with Anderson powerpoles, eliminating the ciggy plug and the connector on the side of the fridge.
I did not remove the access panel on his ARB to see how much work this would be, but the compressor controller uses simple quick connect fittings:
The only reliability issue I would suspect with the ARB is this DC wiring, and it can be completely or partially mitigated, but simply knowing that the ciggy plugcan be and will likely be an issue at some point is also partial mitigation.
One thing that I've read about on some forums, is that since the ciggy plug is problematic, some choose to run this 12v/120v fridge off of their inverter, basically using 20% more battery power. Do not be one of these people
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